♪ for all that good advice ♪ ♪ those hard to find words of wisdom ♪ ♪ . >> steve: he's going to perform his hit "lost." right? >> yeah. the last single we played "you" was off our new album that just came out. >> steve: we'll see you back here, "fox & friends" tomorrow, anyway off to "america's newsroom." we start with a fox news alert. the east coast is bracing for the wrath of hurricane irene. it's coming in as a category 2. it is gang strength as millions of people get ready for this. they are warning residents to prepare for the worst in

virginia. gregg: you are so cheerful in the face catastrophy. martha: what else can we do? we watch and we wait. gregg: we have got you covered up and down the east coast. but particularly the folks in the south not taking any chances. the hurricane center saying this is a nightmare scenario. evacuation order forcing people to secure their homes or get of town completely. martha: let's go down to john roberts who is live from kill devil hills in north carolina. first we'll go to janice dean tracking the storm in the extreme weather center. >> reporter: i hope you know your evacuation route if and when we hear those evacuation calls. this will be a storm that will scrape across the northeast.

there is no way of escaping it. right now looking like a formidable storm. it's a category 2 and on the verge of category 3. there are signs this storm is strengthening. you can see the outer bands already moving across the carolinas, down towards daytona beach. this is a very large storm. tropical storm-force winds 290 miles from the center of this storm. so the whole east coast will feel the effects of this storm and a good chunk of the northeast coast and the mid-atlantic will feel hurricane-force winds for an extended period of time. hurricane advisories from the south carolina, north carolina border all the way up to new england. i want to make sure folks know we are no longer thinking this storm is going to go out to sea. we are going to be dealing with it all weekend long.

we get a new track, a new advisory as of 11:00. it will give us more information as to the exact time line and the exact intensity we'll be dealing with heading into the weekend. intensifying to a category 3 within the next advisory. there are indications we are seeing some strengthening, then the delmarva peninsula, chesapeake bay area dealing with cat 2. then heading into new york city, i want to make sure you know the time line has changed a little bit for the new york area. saturday evening overnight into sunday will be the worst conditions when we'll feel those hurricane-force winds with 12 inches of rain and a strong storm surge that could shut down all sunways, roads. it really could be the case scenario. martha: we haven't seen anything like this in new york city in such a long time, and the nation's biggest city is

preparing. they are figuring out shutting down the subway system. manhattan is an island surrounded by water. so the storm surge is a big thing. the last time it happened these areas weren't as developed as they are now. so a lot of concerns there. janice, thank you very much. the evacuation route will be right here. i'll be here throughout the weekend watching all of this. we are expecting that we'll hear from homeland security secretary janet napolitano. also the head of fema and the national hurricane center. about an hour from now we'll be making the official federal statement on this. east coast mayors along irene's path, and fema is predicting billions of dollars in damage which is the louisiana thing this economy needs right now. so we'll bring you that news conference. as soon as that gets underway you will be their watching it. gregg: the president is going to

be talking about irene at 11:30 eastern time, so we'll be carrying that live. you are right about lower manhattan. all of lower manhattan on fill. low-lying area, it could be absolutely flooded. north and south carolina starting to see the first rain from the outer band of irene, the outer banks getting 6-9-foot waves. thousands of people are clearing out for a potential disaster. john roberts is in kill devil hills, north carolina. >> reporter: if you look over my right shoulder off to the horizon you will see clouds from the very most outer band of hurricane irene. those are clouds you typically see in the caribbean if you ever vacation there. there are columns of clouds, not typical for this part of the world. with the hurricane coming up toward us we'll see a lot more of this. we did have rain come through

earlier again. the very most outer bands of hurricane irene. a lot of people said we know the storm is a long way away. we have one more day of vacation. we have surfers in the water. we have the beach patrol making sure no one is getting into trouble. a disaster declaration has been issued for the state of north carolina that frees up money in anticipation of this event. katrina changed so much. they are making disaster declarations ahead of the actual hurricane. we are expecting -- this place is almost empty as it is. there will just be a few stragglers, probably residents left to ride out the storm. gregg: what kind of damage are you hearing this storm to do where you are. >> reporter: .

isabel put a channel between the two towns of frisco and hatteras. kids had to go to school for a couple of months while they rebuilt the berm. that could happen as the storm comes across ocracoke island, then pamlico sound and kill devil hill. i talked to one guy yesterday who was boarding up house. he has been on this island a long, long time. and he said he thought this was one that could actually change the landscape in ways they haven't seen in a long time, gregg. gregg: that happened in the 1938 hurricane north of where you are. john roberts, we'll check back with you. thanks so much. martha: new york city is getting ready. mayor bloomberg says he expects to decide on mandatory

evacuations later today. mayor bloomberg has asked anybody in those areas to voluntarily evacuate before they wait to get a mandatory order which he will wait to see if that is necessary. gregg: on five hurricanes have even come close to new york city since 1851. there was the great storm of 1938 known as the long island express. the most powerful hurricane known to make landfall near new york as a category 3 hurricane. hundreds were killed. $300 million in damage, and that was a chunk of change in 1938. then the 1985 hurricane gloria, that's the most recent to make landfall on the east coast. the category 3 was called the storm of the century. $1 billion in damage and the u.s. army corp of engineers say it could have been catastrophic

if it had arrived at high tide and a little bit closer to the city. it appears irene is making the exact same loop. martha: you look at that path. it looks familiar to what we are seeing now. all the shut down. if we see something like that where the population now -- with the population now it will be a different story. governor chris christie is warning irene could be a 100-year event. they could see as much as a foot of rain. he's asking people on the coast and the barrier islands to be smart and get out now. >> i'm not asking anybody else to do anything that i'm not doing. people who are upset cutting short their vacation, i feel their pain. but you mow what? we have to do what we have to do. martha: he says new jersey people are cynical and tough. i don't know if he's talking

about me. but he says it's no time to be cynical or tough. don't try to be a hero. gregg: you are tough but you are not cynical. you are very hopeful. the southern tip of the state ordering a mandatory evacuation. there are very few highways that make for a quick exit. >> it's crazy. it's unbelievable. >> it's the 6th most difficult place to evacuate category 1 hurricanes or greater. >> their presence is probably not good for their own well being. gregg: some cape may, new jersey residents remain defiant saying they plan to stay. they can find themselves in traffic jams if they change their mind at the last minute.

martha: how about vacation on martha's vineyard. a lot of people from cutting their trips short, packing the ferries to get back to the mainland. some are saying they don't want to take any chances. >> we weren't sure what was going to happen. >> i was looking forward to staying until sunday but i guess have to go back early. martha: the president says he will make a statement at 11:30 eastern. gregg: we are going to be here all weekend long tracking hurricane irene. so make sure to keep it right here on fox for complete coverage. the latest details on fnc and foxnews.com. check it out. martha: hurricane irene is one of the major stories we are following for you. another storm is brewing. presidential candidate mitt romney getting a bit fired up with a woman at a town hall.

wait until we show you this piece of tape. gregg: president george w. bush marking 10 years since 9/11 with his most telling and intimate interview. the director of this new documentary will be joining us live with his first cable news interview. >> firefighters that were there when i landed were lined up and what was different this time is they were covered in soot. they had come from the site and they were exhausted. i can remember a tear streaming down the grime on one of the worker's faces. this is a man who worked himself into near exhaustion. he was emotionally spent. a legt or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert

your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. the charcoal went out already? [ sighs ] forget it. [ male announcer ] there's more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford charcoal. kingsford. slow down and grill.

- i amp because it's completely invisible. - i amp because it's designed to help me hear better. - i amp because it's for active people like me. male announcer: introducing amp, a new kind of hearing aid.

so tiny, it's invisible. - amp is comfortable to wear. - and easily removable. announcer: and at $1,500 a pair, amp is affordable. - amp: the hearing aid for people who aren't ready for a hearing aid. - i amp. do you? announcer: call toll-free 1-888-379-1405 to find an amp hearing professional near you. at only $1,500 a pair, you can't afford to wait. that's 1-888-379-1405. call today. martha: the track of irene right

now shows it hitting north carolina's coast pretty hard by saturday morning. governor beverly purdue will speak at 10:30 eastern. also here are some satellite pictures from nasa. these are incredible. these are space shots that show the very defined eye of this storm. look at that. it's a sunning shot from the international space station. joining us now is the director of the international hurricane center. bill, good to have you here. what are we in for here? what is your best guess at how bad this will be? >> in the immediate future if you are in north carolina especially the cape hatteras, outer banks, that's where the landfall of the first landfall of the center of the hurricane

is expected to occur sometime tomorrow. but you can start undergoing tropical storm conditions later today. you will have close to a whole day of bad weather and hurricane conditions even in eastern north carolina. but all up and down the eastbound there will be an impact from this storm, be it heavy rain, high winds that bring down trees. and the flooding that goes with the heavy rains and flash flooding. the immediate coast is worried about storm surge. the impacts may be in the volume, the sheer large number of people and businesses impacted by this. martha: you may have seen this quote. max mayfield the former director of the national hurricane center said this is the nightmare scenario he always worried about. a hurricane that literally goes all the way up the east coast, obviously huge population centers up the east coast.

you know, do you have the same reaction? are you as concerned? >> i tend to have multiple nightmares for some reasons. so i have other places that concern me. the key on these is you have got plenty of lead time in the areas that are subject to surge. the local officials are doing a good job of planning for and executing evacuations. i can't do a thing about prevent can the dj from occurring. if you don't have a loss of life from this, then it isn't a nightmare. the damage will happen, we are there. martha: i was read being the 1938 hurricane and what took a similar path and took so many lives. the story in rhode island about a movie theater being swept a couple miles out into the water, movie-like scenarios. the biggest difference now is we have you folks and so much

better technology to warn us, right? >> it's the whole system. i had a great aunt that was in downtown providence for the '38 hurricane. she went to work, she had no clue. even if there had been a clue the storm was going to hit, she would have had no way to have found out about it. we wouldn't have been talking the way we are now. the whole system is so different. it's impossible to think back and how they could even do it. martha: did that inspire you to go into this line of work? >> indirectly. hurricane hazel is my first hurricane. i remember that well. we call it a defective gene, us weather prime minister. you get into weather and you can't shake it. martha: we need you a lot right now. bill reid, i know you will be with us throughout this weekend on this storm so we thank you

for all the great work you guys are doing. gregg: the president is going to be speaking in a couple hours so we'll carry that live as we track irene's devastating path. new york city considering doing something it has never done before, shutting down mass transit entirely. we are going to have a live report next. can i have some ice cream, please ?

no, it's just for new people. hey ! chocolate, vanilla or strawberry ? chocolate ! chocolate it is ! yeah, but i'm new, too. umm... he's new... er... than you. even kids know it's wrong to treat new frien better than old friends. at ally bank, we treat all our customers fairly, with no teaser rates and no minimum deposit to open. it's just the right thing to do. a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more amecans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... f greater access to all the things you want,

whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say.

gregg: the state of new jersey i think it's fair to say is not

taking a bet on hurricane irene. mandatory evacuations are underway in atlantic city and many of the surrounding areas. the city's 11 casinos expected to close at some point today, marking only the third time the gambling spots have closed its doors in the past 30 years. steve keeley is live from atlantic city with more. >> reporter: this is like an anniversary for me and you because we covered hurricane gloria together. that was the only other time atlantic city's casinos closed and they are expected to close this afternoon. half of them are already kicking out all the guests. they were all full because this is one of the big weekends of the summer. it's reminiscent of the two oil crises because we have massive gas lines at every gas station along the jersey shore.

long lines and often short tempers. people coming in to these station and pulls from every direction and causing fights out here. there is a mandatory evacuation order and they can't all file out if they can't fill up first. we are talking about 2.5 million people because of the ballooning population during the height of the summer season. gregg, we are seeing check damage long before the flood and wind damage arrives. some merchants may not just lose their big weekend of business, but their weekend entirely. i was just listening to your last guest talking about the technology and everything and the early warning systems that we have. but none of that stuff works if the people don't take the early warnings seriously. i can't tell you how many people i met and talked to and interviewed that are staying put, ignoring the order to leave. the head of emergency management

whenned what to do if people don't leave. he said take a 3 x 5 index card. write your name, social security number of and next of kin and put it in your shoe so we can i.d. your body when we find you. gregg: that's a sobering comment. i know you talk to a lot of people out there all the time. are they explaining why they are not going to heed some of these mandatory evacuation orders and warnings? what are they saying? >> reporter: one lady said what safer place than one of these massive casinos and i can have my car safe 10 floors up. another guy says i have been through hurricanes before. it's all hype and it never comes to fruition. this will pass us by so i'm not going to leave. gregg: we'll check back with

you, steve, thanks so much. martha: it's all hype until it's not that one time. so we are continuing to watch it for you very closely. let's get a live look at side fr beach in florida. we have two major airports on the water in the new york area. that's a concern. if you have got flight plans you better check those out. we'll get an update on the storm track plus more on how north carolina which is the first of our states that will deal with this in a big way, how are they doing. we'll be right back. >> people don't realize the strength of hurricane winds. a light object becomes a missi missile. almost tastes like one of jack's als.

fiber one. h, forgot jack cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one! [ jack ] yeah, ts is pretty good. [ male announcer ]alf a day's worth of fiber. fiber one.

when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses... not paid by medicare part b. that can save you from paying up to thousands of dollars... out of your own pocket.

these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you'll get this free information kit... with all you need to enroll. put their trust in aarp medicare supplement insurance. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. the prices are competitive. i can keep my own doctor. and i don't need a referral to see a specialist. call now to get a free information kit. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. and the advantages don't end there. choose from a range of medicare supplement plans... that are all competitively priced. we have a plan for almost everyone, so you can find one that fits your needs and budget. with all medicare supplement plans, there are virtually no claim forms to fill out. plus you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare. and best of all, these plans are... the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. when they told me these plans were endorsed by aarp... i had only one thing to say...

sign me up. call the number on your screen now... and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan. you'll get this free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare, to help you choose the plan that's right for you. as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. gregg: there is no way of knowing the destruction hurricane irene could leave behind. as of right now forecasters are warning its force is dangerous. janice dean is tracking it from the fox extreme weather center. do talk to us about the power and the force of irene. >> reporter: a very, very large storm. a lot of folks are asking, when is it going to hit my backyard. the truth of the matter is

starting now into saturday and into sunday the whole mid-atlantic and the northeast coast will be feeling the effects of the storm. we have ts *-force winds that extend 300 miles from the center of the storm. hurricane-force winds 90 miles from the center of the storm. we think it will come close enough to affect all the major cities. time line here. i'll be a little bit vague. the exact timing and intensity are still yet to be determined. at 11:00 we'll get that crucial advisory that will give us a better picture of what we are dealing with. computer models are in agreement much of the outer banks area will feel them for much of saturday. ts * storm force conditions into southern new jersey saturday night. we do believe this could be category 2 storm, or a strong category 1. as we head into sunday the new

york city tristate area monday morning and that's when we'll be dealing with this through new england. the timing on this -- yesterday was different. we were talking about a sunday night into monday storm for the tristates. now we are dealing with an overnight, saturday night into sunday storm and that will affect a lot of folks. they might need to make their preparations complete as of today. there are your models that make up that cone of uncertain i. very good agreement to make possibly a direct hit on cape hatteras as a category 3. there will be water and a different-looking outer banks by monday morning. freg * one of the factors that. gregg: one of the thing that can aggravate storm surges and high tides are the new moon. >> reporter: we are look at a new moon, so 6-11 foot storm

surge for parts of north carolina will cause major problems for them. then 4-8 foot storm surge for the chesapeake bay area and for the jersey shoreline anywhere from 3-6 feet. and depending on the tide and when the storm passes, we'll have waves on top of that. so flooding is going to be a huge concern, and the rainfall -- again for this area we have seen record-breaking rain. the rain will have nowhere to go. the ground is already saturated so we'll be dealing with a dire situation. gregg: multiple problems on top of problems. janice dean, thank you very much. martha: boat owners in north carolina are busy making preparations before the full force of this storm arrives. they are taking them out of the water which is what most folks are doing. it's almost the even of the summer so a good time to get that boat out of the water so it

doesn't get tossed around like a toy boat in the storm. the coast guard is busy getting ready for this event. and they are warning residents that they need to shore up everything that is loose because the winds can turn even light objects into missiles. you need to get rid of all the little stuff outside your house. potted plants, lawn chairs. it's time to do it. gregg: it has the same effect as a tornado only this time it's a hurricane. up the coastline in new york city as the city braces for a midge punch. the i that never sleeps planning to shut down its mass transit system before the storm reaches the area. mayor michael bloomberg saying the shutdown is one of the preemptive measures being taken to prepare for the worst. >> we recommend people start going to alternative locations they have them because of potential traffic jams and mass transit limitations saturday.

gregg: what could happen here? >> it could be catastrophic if irene hits as a category 2 it could drive a 20-foot storm surge into low-lying areas of new york city. flooding could overwhelm the city's drainage system potentially suspending the largest transit station in the nation. serving manhattan, brooklyn, queens and the bronx. >> if the projections hold, the mta would expect to suspend services on all of our services for a period of time. >> the city's plan is to shut down the subway system as early as saturday afternoon. if winds reach 39 miles per hour, all rail and bus service would be suspended. each subway station will be searched to make sure no one is left behind, and then the gates and the barricade tape will go

up blocking even trangses and exits. if a category 1 hurricane hits we'll be effected as well. numerous subway tunnels are guaranteed to flood, including under river tunnels and most of the lines that run through lower mbt. the port authority says it will have crews on standby to deflow extra pumps and sandbags. gregg: i have been here 20 years and never have seen them shut down the system entirely. how long are they saying this is going to be shut down? do we know? >> a little while. it could leave service suspended through the morning commute. given the severity of the storm. much of which is moved away from low-lying areas. the mta chairman says it may mean long delays in getting the service up and running. some parts of the plan went into effect yesterday. the mta cancelled all time off

for employees. they brought in extra workers to prep for the oncoming storm. you mentioned shutdowns. the only recent shutdowns were following the 9/11 attacks and the transit strike. the subway system has 5.2 million riders a day. gregg: for people who don't get the word there will be a lot of sleepers there grand central. for several days. all right. heather, thank you very much. >> you are welcome. martha: a short disaway from the anniversary of september 11. the george bush telling hi his r hihis per speckive in great de

detail. >> and gave a big hug. we didn't need to say a lot. the hug was all that was necessary. i had had a long day. i knew i needed rest. and i couldn't sleep. i was thinking about the images, thinking about what i needed to do. thinking about the day, thinking about the next day. and i heard a guy breathing heavily. he said mr. president, you have got to come now. the white house is under attack. i grabbed laura. i grabbed barney, the scottish terrier. spot the springer spaniel follows and off we go. agents in front of us. agent behind us.

and laura and me. armed are automatic weapons. and we are hustled along and finally get back into the secure bunker, and an air force enlisted personnel comes walking around. what the helms going on? he said don't worry, mr. president, it's one of ours. martha: that was at the end of the day when he finally got back to the white house. that recounted in a stunning way. this is a very important piece of history. it will air sunday night on na natgo. we'll city down with the producer to conducted this interview. it's extremely compelling. we look forward to bringing it

to you. gregg: he has never spoken about it in such detail and depth and such emotion. coming up. a voter at a town hall going head-to-head with presidential candidate mitt romney. we'll tell what you sparked this reaction. >> hold on a moment. you had your turn. let me have mine. let me have mine. i'll give the microphone in a moment. but let me complete. it's my turn. you had yours, now it's my turn. would you please hold on a minute and let me finish? good. [ music playing, indistinct conversations ] the charcoal went out already? [ sighs ] forget it. [ male announcer ] there's more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford charcoal.

kingsford. slow down and grill. really? 25 grams of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg.

[ major nutrition ] new ensure hh protein. ensure! nutrition in charge! [ major nutrition ] new ensure hh protein. like many chefs today, i feel the best approach to food is to keep it whole for better nutrition. and that's what they do with great grains cereal. see the seam on the wheat grain? same as on the flake. because great grains steams and bakes the actual whole grain. now check out the other guy's flake. hello, no seam. because it's more processed. now, which do you suppose has better nutrition for you? mmm. great grains. the whole whole grain cereal.

gregg: new york's long island coast on the target list for hurricane irene. sand barriers on beaches, officials issuing a voluntary evacuation.

they are asking ferry companies not to bring anyone to the island who doesn't own a home there. people are being urged to pack their kits with emergency supplies. the total shutdown is possible. martha: a calmer topic like the 2012 election coming up. mitt romney is anything but calm in this. he gets a little bit ticked with a woman as the a town hall in new hampshire. he wanted a chance to answer the question himself. >> 50 states in america balance their budgets every year. i'll give you have the microphone in a moment. let me completes. i'm sorry, it's my turn. would you please hold on a minute and let me finish? good. martha: okay, now he can talk.

juan williams joins me now. fox news political analyst. and karen hanretty. we have been on the campaign trail for a long time and we have 15 months to go. she asked a long question. see went on and on and on. she keeps trying to cut him off and interrupt him while he's trying to answer the question. karen, what do you make of that exchange? >> i think we are going to see a lot of that on the campaign trail. people are -- there is a -- there is a lot of emotion and anger and frustration. i think some of them are plants and it will happen on both sides. it's no different -- it am not a controlled setting. i think candidates who perform well, including the president and the gop candidates are going to have to learn to deal with this with a smile, not take it personally, and figure out a strategy for addressing issues

without belittling, demeaning the person asking the question, but also being assertive. this is a fine line candidates are going to have to walk. martha: juan, everybody is looking for that piece of video that will expose a candidate in an unfavorable light. that's the world we live in right now. in a lot of situations they will be plants. people in the audience. >> there is no evidence there were plants. you are dealing with a situation where mitt romney was applauded when he said government has to live within its means. but outside according to reports there were signs, it was a senior citizens center. and seniors are concerned some of the entitlement cuts proposed by republicans and endorsed byrum any would impact their medicare and medicare advantage. those are people with genuine

concerns and they are asking real questions. it's also true were there are people trailing after looking forgot cha moments. but i -- looking forgotcha moments. and i don't think this was one of them. martha: it's okay with everybody until it starts to affect them. >> republicans are going to have to stand their ground, make their case for what they believe the overall principle for what they believe. but it's difficult in situations where you are being confronted by someone who is very angry, and not -- anger isn't a bad thing. they are eve motional because it's affecting them personally. there will be a lot of fear among the electorate about how are these things going to affect me down the road. sow i think honestly mitt romney did the best he could. but every candidate including president obama is going to have to really step up their game,

think on their feet, and figure out how to deal with these situations. martha: i want to squeeze in one more quick topic. mitt romney's hair even got messed up so you know something was going wrong. speak of another guy with perfect hair, governor perry. both of them have been calling donald trump looking for his endorsement. there are a lot of people in america who probably canadian tell the difference who's who at this point and i don't blame them. what do you think about the plea for a trump endorsement on the part of both these gentlemen. >> they want this celebrity high voltage enforcement and they think it would unlock the door to some of the money sitting on the sideline. we have seen a poll that indicates most republicans and independents are happy with the field with perry and romney tonight. if you measure it right now perry is in the lead over romney

so it will become a two-man battle and they want people like truck top say, hey, that's my guy. martha: next time, thanks so as much for being with us. good hair on both of them. you have good hair like that, gregg jarrett. gregg: i could never run for offers. there is too much in my background. speaking of presidents. this president will make a statement 11:30 eastern time as it inches closer to the eastern seaboard. what is the federal response in place? martha: you can go to foxnews.com for complete irene coverage. we are about to hear from the homeland security secretary. foxnews.com/weather. you can sends me a tweeted at martha maccallum. boy, i'm glad we got aflac huh. aflac! oh, i've just got major medical... major medical.

...but it helps pay the doctors. pays the doctors, boyyy! [ quack ] oh yeah? what about your family? ♪ we added aflac, so we get cash! it's like our safety net... ♪ to help with the mortgage or whatever we need! so my family doesn't feel the pain too. ha! [ male announcer ] help protect your family at aflac.com. [ pigeons ] heyyy! hooo!!!

gregg: fema is coordinating with states up and count east coast as irene takes aim the the u.s. mainland. we are expected to hear from president obama and the federal response later this morning. ed henry is on martha's vineyard. we hear the president will be making a statement on irene about 11:30ish east coast time? >> reporter: 11:30. it's the first time he has spoken on camera about this storm. there have been a lot of readouts from the white house the last three days. the president has gotten some sort of briefing from the fema director, and homeland security secretary janet napolitano. they are trying project an image

even while on vacation the president is on top of it. making sure all the states up and down the eastern coast are prepared. there is also a political issue that the elephant in the room really after the battering president bush got after katrina and after the battering this president faced off the oil spill. there is an issue for presidents of both parties to make sure they are on top of the situation. there is very little they can do specifically. they have to project an image they are in control. then they have to coordinate with the state and local governments to make sure they are prepared. gregg: there are things a president can do before the storm hits, just in terms of preparation. report absolutely. while a lot of preparation is done on the ground. last night the white house, the president declared a state of emergency in the state of north carolina. even though the storm hasn't hit there, it's expected to hit soon.

and what that does is frees up federal money, federal assets to help state and local governments avoid any sort of bureaucratic red tape. there are things like that the president can do. other states up and down the coast as the storm moves closer. gregg: that money can be transferred instantaneously to the people in north carolina. martha: we are moments away from new details on irene's path. the head of fema and the national hurricane center are set to speak as irene continues to barrel towards the united states. we are going to take you live there as soon as that gets underway. we'll get new information from those folks. millions of people doing everything they can to get their houses ready. >> this is the first time someone told us we should be leaving our place.

i could probably object to that, but i think wisely i'm not going to. property is property, lives are lives. @

♪ sing polly wolly doodle all the day ♪ ♪ hah @

martha: all right, this "fox news alert" for you, we are seconds away from sort of a summit on hurricane irene, as the swirling mass of torrential rain and wind starts to roll up the east coast, and this is going to be a huge one, folks, and the homeland security secretary, janet napolitano, is getting ready to speak to the nation about this. she'll be joined by the leaders from fema and the national hurricane center, and also the red cross. everybody is preparing for the worst-case scenario because that is the best thing to do in this situation, we're getting the first signs of irene as it is coming ashore in the carolinas now, how we ramp up and get ready for this second hour of "america's newsroom," i'm martha maccallum. gregg: good morning, i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. mandatory vevacuationings issuer

folks in virginia beach and, new england is bracing for a full-fledged hurricane. martha: doug mcelway is live in maryland, along the coast there and first, let's go to janice dean, watching the computer models and gauging it for us from the fox weather center. what is the latest? >> we are waiting for the new advisory at 11:00. we'll, crucial, because we'll get a new track with all of the latest computer models, and we'll get the coordinates of the storm. you think it has a potential to become a category-3, again, yet, we are just on stlethe verge of category-3, because it has gone down to 110 miles per hour, but is still a category-3 storm, when it comes to surge and rainfall, 111 miles an hour is a cat 3 and shot a lot of sheer to tear the storm apart and it is not over land yet. we still have time for intensificati intensification. it is a very large storm and folks ask, when will it hit? even before we have a landfall,

across portions of north carolina, feeling the effects already, really, hours in advance, and hours after the storm passes. i want to look at precipitation, because, this could be one of the big problems. yes, we'll feel hurricane-force winds and tropical storm-force winds but for some regions to have dealt with record breaking rain it could break the bank where the ground is saturated. 4-8 inches easily and isolated amounts over 12 inches, and this could be really devastating for a lot of folks across the northeast. we'll see power outages, certainly, perhaps for days, maybe even into weeks in some areas. and, you know, we'll see the potential for a lot of flooding and storm surge across those vulnerable areas. just some of the east coast impacts, the very least, 50 mile-per-hour winds, for an extended length of time, for all of these big cities and, of course, here in the red, where we think we could be dealing with a category-3 hurricane, winds in excess of 100 miles per

hour. which could certainly change the landscape across the outer banks and i want to mention, we haven't talked about this. we could see the threat for tornadoes. as we have these land falling tropical systems and the friction and rotation across land could, possibly, give us some tornadoes, across portions of all of these big cities. martha: a lot to think about and get ready for. >> martha, new advisory is sometime before 15i71:00 and we have it for you. martha: and we'll look forward to that and we may get information from the homeland security secretary. bill: and officials are moving everyone to move inland, in north carolina. the governor, beverly purdue says all disaster response teams are in place. >> we are as ready as we can be, we have evacuations in place now, our ferries are about to close. we have rescue squads, emergency personnel, highway patrol, national guard, red cross on the ground, and our shelters are

open and, right now we are trying to get our people, off, the tourists and the residents. gregg: commanders at johnson air force base, not taking any chances there, 115 fighter jets, and kc-135 attorneys 5 tankers and staff and families relocated to barksdale air force base in louisiana. martha: with irene hundreds of miles off the coast the beaches already a dangerous place to be. lifeguards at the beach north of wilmington say they've already pulled people out of the ocean. obviously, ahead of this kind of storm, you have high risk for rip currents, in the water, and, very choppy scenes and the ocean is a very mysterious thing at moments like this, don't take any chances with this. because, always there are daredevils who are trying to catch a big wave, not a great idea. >> we have done a dozen or so rescues today and had some

injuries, due to the high surf, and, most -- all of the rescues were rip current related. martha: and people panic when they get into a rip current and don't realize what you have to do is swim parallel to the shore to get out of a rip current. don't try to swim in, you have to let it carry you and swim parallel to it, and that is the only way to... gregg: otherwise you tire and get swept away. evacuations underway in maryland now, a governor declaring a statewide emergency, ordering mandatory evacuations, for ocean city for the very first time, in more than 20 years. >> we are ordering a mandatory evacuation, off the barrier island of ocean city. what does that mean? that means that any visitors or residents of ocean city should be making plans to leave the island as soon as possible. and, in an orderly way. gregg: doug mcelway is live in ocean city, maryland, and, you

know, doug, where you are it swells with vacationers, this time of year. but, what are you seeing now? >> well, it is kind of a sad situation here, gregg, in many respects because people have to give up their vacations and we have spoken to many, many people who arrived here with the expectation of enjoying the last couple of weeks of summer and are packing up and heading out, as we pulled into town last night there was a steady stream, exodus of people heading back to the major cities of mid-atlantic, washington d.c. and baltimore and, philadelphia, where people usually come from to enjoy their vacations. the last time, we had a hurricane here was gloria, which occurred late september, largely after the vacation season was done. and the fact that this is occurring in the middle of the vacation season, just two weeks before labor day, is going to be a real economic hardship for a lot of people. a lot of people boarding up their store fronts, yesterday,

and everybody resigned to giving up -- gregg: i have to interrupt you, doug, i apologize, i want to go to the homeland security secretary, janet napolitano holding a news conference, let's listen. >> now, every storm prediction is a bit of science and a little bit of art and this one moved in and out an east and west and category-3 and category-2. and given the amount of rain, associated with the storm and the likelihood of flooding, however, i would encourage you not to focus too much on whether it is a category-2 or 3. if you are in the storm path, you won't be able to tell much difference. so, let me introduce bill reid of the national hurricane center. he's now going to give you the most currents update of the storm, and its path and then, as i said before, we'll turn it over to administrator fugate. so, bill... >> thank you, secretary napolitano and good words about

not getting concerned about the category. and now i'm seeing a classically shaped hurricane, with the exception of... [inaudible], we don't have the well-defined eye and that may be the reason we are not seeing higher wind speeds than we are given the low pressure and otherwise, organization, this image points out very clearly, why current evacuations, well in advance of the hurricane... tropical storm conditions along the coast will begin this afternoon and that is why they began with evacuations yesterday and, the center is down here east of jacksonville florida, moving steadily towards the coast and next, salt, please. this is water vapor imagery, that highlights the features in the atmosphere that are actually steering the storm and you probably heard us and others in

the meteorology profession talking about what might change the track motion of the storm, but, the area of low pressure that moved through new england yesterday and is exiting the united states and we have another system here, passing through the plains, and may or may not have an impact on the track of it right now, but, somewhere in the carolinas we'll have the impact today, middle atlantic, starting tomorrow, and then, new england on sunday. and next slide, please. here is the current official forecast, and, updates will be coming in about an hour and i don't anticipate significant changes in this scenario. it represents the likelihood, 2/3 of the... with the center passing in it and i have to say, at this point, based on the data we have gathered be a the models we have looked at and talking

with my forecasters, i am confident, coming through early sunday morning, higher than normal, the center of the hurricane passing within that area. and, in response to that we have hurricane warnings extending all the way up from the north carolina/south carolina border to new jersey, and, the hurricane watch is now up... [inaudible] new england. and, the carolinas into the tidewater, going into tomorrow, and, then, further up the coast, all along the coast, paralleling the coast, a coastal issue as well as an inland issue. let's talk about the winds. next slide, please. if you have been following our wind probability, there are a lot of changes, and, the... [inaudible] factors led to a much higher probability of

tropical storm-force winds. very lively, from the carolinas to southern new england and even this far out and then a good chance, well into the interior of new england and, one of the things i have seen over the years, is people well inland are surprised by the amount of wind they get, and this is one of the products we use to try to impress upon them, it is not just a coastal event. next slide, please... we're trying to highlight the threat of storm surge, especially for decisionmakers to give them, a way to ascertain when the winds become life-threatening, is the storm surge and the chance of receiving 4 feet, in... [inaudible] elevation. and that works pretty good for the carolinas, right now, and into the tide waters and cuts

off the evacuation routes and, may be life-threatening to people and they need to get out of harm's away and the yellows and the oranges represent... a 70% of probability, of the current and those numbers stay fairly low, because it is sensitive to the forecast waivers in the storm, and probabilities, because we cannot forecast that until right before landfall. next slide, please. the rainfall has not changed much in the forecast, and lines up with the track, not too important, are the numbers but i want to get across there is a huge swath of rain through the densely populated northeast corridor where we have had almost 300 to 600% above normal rain the last 30 days, and, this means two things, increased risk of flash flooding and river flooding and the fact that the soil is saturated and he winds

and trees will bring trees down more readily than if the ground was dry. that is what i have and i'll introduce craig fugate to talk about what all of the impact will be for their operations. >> good morning, everybody, as the secretary talked about, we already have our teams linked in with the governor's teams and the state emergency operations centers, primarily folks on the evacuation support now, but, also, preparing for the immediate impact and the aftermath. one thing i think we have to really emphasize here, as well as the forecast has been, all the steps of preparation, it does not mean there will not be damages. it does not mean that power will not go out over large areas and that it will take some time to get things back to normal. that is why it's so important for people to prepare and the one thing we can change the outcome on, is loss of life. that is why the evacuation orders that are being issued in the coastal areas are key. people need to leave early. travel safe distance and get somewhere safe, not wait for another forecast.

all of the planning and preparation will be in vain if people don't heed the evacuation orders and as the secretary points out we have a whole of government approach, which means all the federal agencies under her leadership and the president have been working together to get ready to support the governors and their teams but it's not just about government. it is about volunteers and the ngo organizations and the private sector as well as the public, and the key partner of that historically and more importantly today as we prepare for this is the american rec and i'd like to introduce the ceo of the american red cross. >> thank you very much, craig and first, let me acknowledge the wonderful partnership that we have with fema, and with secretary janet napolitano and administrator fugate. you are going to go toe-to-toe with mother nature you couldn't ask for a better sense of... set of partners. and i think that the way we were able to respond during the

spring storms really highlights how well, we can work together as three organizations. i am not going to repeat what you already heard about the storm. it is obviously a very big one. it will cover a large amount of area, and while you can't exactly predict what mother nature is going to throw at you, i do feel the american red cross is better prepared and more prepared than ever. we have forged, as craig said, a number of partnerships, with the faith-based organizations, like national baptist convention, like the southern baptist convention, a lot of the ngos, like n.a.a.c.p., hope worldwide, americorps and a whole host of other faith-based organizations and nonprofit organizations. we are anticipating that, as i said, it will be a huge geographical area with lots of

people impacted, and from a time perspective, this could take weeks, maybe even months to be able to respond to. let me give you a few quick numbers. we have over 200 emergency response vehicles that we're sending to the east coast. these are vehicles that can drive around through neighborhoods, give out meals, relief items, things like buckets, mops, pails, et cetera. we are sending 60,000 ready-to-eat meals into richmond and another 60,000 up to massachusetts. we're working with the southern baptists and they bring in big kitchens so they can prepare a lot of meals and we think we can serve 250,000 meals a day, initially, and we can actually gin that up to a million meals a day if necessary. our local chapters have thousands of volunteers already

on the ground and we have already deployed a thousand of highly skilled volunteer specialists, a number of whom were part of our response during the spring storms, and we have the ability to get over 60,000 additional volunteers in the area if need be. we have opened up shelters already, in north carolina, as well as opened up a few shelters in long island, we have 15,000 potential shelter sites, through the affected area, and, if any of your listeners or viewers need to know where those shelters are, they can find it on our web site, redcross.org or we have an iphone app as well that will give them the shelter maps. finally, as the secretary and the administrator said, we urge everyone to get ready, have a kit, have the papers that you need, supplies for food, the right clothing that you need,

you get -- there's a very robust list of what you can put in one of these kits on redcross.org. listen to the news, stay informed about the storm's track. have a plan as to what you are going to do, when and if you are asked to evacuate, and, if you are asked to evacuate, please, do so. that is, as craig said, going to be responsible for reducing loss of life. you can also go to redcross.org to register and tell your family members that you are safe and well on our "safe and well" part of our site, and as administrator fugate always says, that getting ready and responding to a disaster like this takes a whole team. and, we are hoping the american public is part of that team. and your red cross is ready and prepared to help in any way necessary. thank you. >> i think we'll take a few

questions. >>... [inaudible]. >> worst case assessment for new york city. i think there are models that show that... [inaudible] portions that... (inaudible) especially given high tide and also, just, if you -- max mayfield said one of his greatest nightmares is a major hurricane going up the east coast. i wonder if you can reply to that. >> i'll have craig talk about new york city i'm talked to mayor bloomberg yesterday about preparations being made in new york city. they are already evacuating some of the lower-lying areas, nursing homes, and i think a hospital is being evacuated and we'll be working with them today. there were ambulances being pre-positioned to help move people out of the way. this is another reason why we urge people who are able-bodied

to prepare to evacuate if you are asked to, so we can at the governmental and the red cross level really focus on those who need special assistance. we are of course watching the storm as it hits all the major metropolitan areas, heading up the east coast, you know, you have d.c., you've got wilmington, you've got new york city, possibly boston, so we have been in touch with all of those states. one of the concerns of course in new york city is though subway system, and, maintaining the subway system, those decisions will be made by the mayor, by the mayor and his staff, and, then we'll be prepared to support them. craig, do you want to address that at all? >> bill you probably they're expert on the storm surge and you can talk about the tools you have to show where that may occur. >> well, yes. the... all of the inlets and base, south and north carolina,

the problem abilities here, you can see, anywhere, in north carolina, one thing we haven't talked about is the tidewater area. highly vulnerable to storm surge and, very dependent on whether the storms are just to the west or the east of there and the areas that will be impacted by storm surge on the storm, we'll be focusing on that, very closely. in the overnight hours, tonight into tomorrow, to get the exact location. and we actually have run a set of simulations, if you will, and... we update the base and have the total for the emergency managers to predict where the storm surge might go, depending on a certain class of... and use those for the plans of evacuation and the initial decision points of evacuation and, getting into the problem abilities, it is more of a function of, where is the surge

going to be and, emphasis of getting people out of harm's way and after the storm hits, very precise, single-track runs give people an idea of where you might have to go in for high-water rescue. >> [inaudible] works in my office building and she talked about how she's getting prepared and one thing she said, with regards to the uncertainty of the storm, you know, the comment she made is that, everybody is getting prepared for this like it is hurricane katrina and i don't think it will be that bad. could it be the east coast hurricane katrina? or are we kind of overhyping this? >> i think when people think of katrina they think of the homes destroyed with the flooding. and, that may be something we see in the storm surge areas along the coast. but, i think here in the district and again, for all you guys that live here, here's what you need to be prepared for. power outages, that could be days or longer. and the further away you are

from the urban areaareas, it co be up to a week or more and you will not get everything back on quickly. a lot of rain and flooding, strong, gusty winds and so, again, those impacts well away from the coast, and could be things you need to be prepared for, particularly the flooding and flash flooding and again, you talk about this and people want to put it into context of what it means here and think of this, very strong sustained winds, tropical force, maybe gusting a little bit close to hurricane-force winds and a lot of trees town and a lot of power lines down and heavy rain, lots of localized flooding and along the potomac you'll have storm surge potential and the low-lying areas may flood and that is why we're telling people not just on the coast, but well inland, be prepared. >> last question... >> [inaudible] definitely below a billion dollars, $765

million... [inaudible] from january through today. what happens now? >> first of all, the disaster relief fund, we'll have the resources we need to respond to this hurricane. now, there is some -- going to have to be some financial stuff done, with the daisaster relief fund but in terms of the immediate needs, and have resources made available. craig, do you want to address that? >> as the secretary said it is not a limiting factor and we have been putting money back in as of early this week and were over $900 million in the relief fund and are looking at making sure we have the resources to respond and we have open disasters including puerto rico which was hit by irene and the storms back through early string, string spring and we continue to respond to those needs and will prepare for response of this as

well and i forgot to tell you, you can also go to ready.gov and for people on the go, trying to keep up-to-date, m.fema.gov, and links to mobile information from us and the hurricane centers and you don't have to look at the band width issues and, you can keep track of how to prepare. >> thank you very much. gregg: here's what we learned from the red cross director, they can serve up to a million meals a day. and the national hurricane director saying tropical storm-force winds already are hitting north carolina, today, and will continue to stretch to new england. the homeland security secretary, janet napolitano warning of massive power outages. and some evacuations already underway in new york city and the fema director saying the loss of life can be minimized if the warnings to evacuate are heeded. one of the areas with mandatory evacuations, oaks city,

maryland. let's go back to doug mcelway, live there, in ocean city. doug, talk about the evacuations, what are they calling for and are people heeding these warnings? >> reporter: we'll are heeding these warnings, in fact i spoke to a lifeguard who is still on duty today. but, the lifeguards in ocean city, maryland are helping police in this town go door-to-door to help get the word out that people need to leave the town, everybody has to be evacuated. by 5:00 p.m., and, the vast majority of people are heeding the warning and the best evidence of that is the boardwalk behind me, you see a little bit of a rain storm but it's not an outer band, it is a storm system that came through last night and people are, as you can see, heeding the warnings. ocean city, this entire part of the peninsula is basically a barrier island, a glorified sand do you know. very narrow strip of land, that stretches from ocean city, off

the fenwick island to the beaches up to the delaware bay and can be overtaken by water very, very quickly and is hugely important for people to get out of here and police are taking it seriously and erected roadblocks so people cannot get back into town, in effect, since last night, and you can only get in if you are a business owner and taking care of your property but even those people need to get out of here by 5:00 p.m. tonight. back to you, gregg as rain comes down, ocean city, maryland. gregg: horrible devastation when gloria ripped through and irene is on the exact, same path. we'll check back with you. martha: a quick check of the markets, there is a lot of focus on statements by ben bernanke. basically he came out, in the conference in jackson hole, wyoming and said there was not a whole lot the fed was going to do to try to stimulate the economy. in many ways, he suggested that congress is where that needs to happen, at this point. we know that the federal reserve

doesn't have a whole lot of ammunition to go at, because they've already done a lot of quantitative easing and adding fuel to the fire with more cash into the market over the course of the last couple of years and, dow was up 200 points and the good news is it is off -- dow was down 200 points and it is off the lows of the session, and, we'll keep an eye on it. gregg: the national hurricane center is taking hurricane irene very seriously, janice dean in three minutes with the latest on where irene could hit. martha: and we also have a powerful look, this morning at one of the most defining moments in american history. former president george w. bush, gives his most poignant and in-depth interview of his experiences on that day, since september 11th. ten years ago. now, the director of this new documentary, sits down with us in his first cable news appearance. moments away. >> there was a lot of sadness on air force one. we had seen the images of people

dying and we... i just knew of the heart break. that was ravaging families. most powerless i ever felt was when i was watching people jump to their death on tv and there was nothing i could do about it. ♪ why settle for a one-note cereal? get more with honey bunches of oats. four nutritious grains come together for more taste, more texture, more healthy satisfaction. have a bowl of happy. with diabetes, it's tough to keep life balanced. i don't always have time to eat like i should. and the more i focus on everything else, the less time i have to take care of me.

that's why i like glucerna shakes. they have slowly digestible carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes, which can help ler a1c. glucerna products help me keep everything balanced. [ golf ubs clanking ] [ husband ] i'm good! well, almost everything. [ male announcer ] glucerna. delicious shakes and bars. helping people with diabetes find balance. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65,

but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses... not paid by medicare part b. that can save you from paying up to thousands of dollars... out of your own pocket. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you'll get this free information kit... with all you need to enroll. put their trust in aarp medicare supplement insurance. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. the prices are competitive. i can keep my own doctor. and i don't need a referral to see a specialist. call now to get a free information kit. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. and the advantages don't end there. choose from a range of medicare supplement plans... that are all competitively priced.

we have a plan for almost everyone, so you can find one that fits your needs and budget. with all medicare supplement plans, there are virtually no claim forms to fill out. plus you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare. and best of all, these plans are... the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. when they told me these plans were endorsed by aarp... i had only one thing to say... sign me up. call the number on your screen now... and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan. you'll get this free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare, to help you choose the plan that's right for you. as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now.

>> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪ >> martha: former president george w. bush marks ten years since september 11th with his most intimate and detailed interview since that tragic day. we all remember this now iconic scene where president bush learned that america was under attack, when andy card leaned in and spoke to him in that classroom in florida, what a moment that was, and now in his first cable news interview on this documentary, i'm joined by peter schnall, director, executive producer of george w. bush, the 9/11 interview which will air on the national geographic channel this weekend. thank you very much. i must tell you, watching this, i had the great opportunity to watch all of it the other night, it is truly a piece of history, it's a document of history to have this on tape and it's just truly remarkable. i know you had a -- first of all, thank you for giving this to everybody. you had two days and five

hours and he knew he was walking into the room to tell this story, that he had never really told before. what was it like? >> you know, we wanted to give the former president the opportunity to sit down and really reflect on those days, those days in september, that as he said, changed his presidency. so he came in, and he was very jovial and very, you know, excited about sitting down with us, and he kind of looked around and said who did i say i was going to give four hours to? as you know, that's not his style. but the idea was to kind of make it very conversational and that was the format. martha: we're looking at the moment he was told in florida and one of the things that struck me when when he talked about -- he got the informs from andy card and he saw the reporters in the back of the room all look at their blackberries and he knew they were also getting that same information. he was criticized by so many people for his reaction and how long he sat in that room. what was your reaction when he talked about it? >> you know, we tried to ask him what it was like to be sitting just in front of the

kids, but also, in front of the world press. i mean, remember, most presidents might hear something like that in the white house, or in a bunker, america is under attack, but the president was pretty much on the world stage. so he talked about what it was like and he looked over and he saw the press and he knew they were getting the same thing that he was getting and he knew no matter what he did or what he said was going to be recorded. he spoke again about just want to go remain calm for the kids and not want -- wanting to jump up. it's something we had lived with for the past ten years. martha: he talked about how frustrated he was, that he was persuaded not to go back to washington initially, and then he got to this point after the trip to louisiana and then to nebraska, here's what he said happened in his mind at that point: >> during this moment that i made the decision i'm going back to washington, over the objections of just about everybody else, i had had it, i said i need to get home. a lot had developed, and

some -- and it was important to wrap the day up with a presidential speech, assuring people that the government was functioning and responding and that we would take the appropriate actions necessary to protect our country. and i damn sure wasn't going to give it from a bunker in nebraska. i wanted to give it from the oval office. i didn't want the enemy to have the psychological victory of a president speaking from a bunker in the heartland of our country and not speaking from the capitol. that had been attacked. so i told the head of the secret service, and others, i'm coming home. martha: and you talked about how in the moment, he was transforward. he knew he was a wartime president when he got off and he saw everybody armed all around him. >> remember in that one moment, that one day, he went from basically a president pretty much only dealing with domestic issues to, as he said, suddenly becoming a wartime president, something he never imagined that he would have to be. what he spoke about quite often in the interview was how, during those early hours of 9/11, he really

didn't know what was going on. there was so much confusion, many rumors, and he says quite interestingly, i was living through the fog of war. which is quite a powerful thing for a president to say. and quite revealing, we thought. martha: the other thing i noticed in it, when he talked about coming in and out of tv signals on air force one, so they would be watching the scenes at the world trade center, then it would go away, and you can see it's palpable the frustration on his face about how he was out of touch at moments when he clearly did not want to be, and how frustrating that was for him. and you know, moving forward, with his first visit to ground zero, two days later, i believe it was. >> correct, on the 14th. martha: on the 14th, we all think of that iconic moment with the mega phone, but what i love in this piece is that you show the moments leading up to it, before that statement. let's play it, then i want to hear your thoughts on that: >> as i worked my way down,

people started saying, you know, you get them. there was palpable blood lust. these workers, these workers were interested in finding out whether or not we were going to go and find that enemy and bring them to justice. that's what they wanted to know. >> [chanting] >> just before i got up on this pile of rubble that turned out to be a destroyed fire truck, somebody handed me a mega phone, and i didn't have any prepared remarks, but i knew i could cobble something together in front of the crowd that would comfort them, reassure them. i was up there trying to say something about how we cared about them and the country was supporting them, and i kept -- a guy kept screaming

i can't hear you, i can't hear you, and i yelled back through the mega phony hear you, the world hears you, and the people who did this will soon hear from us. >> i can hear you. the rest of the world hears you. and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. >> [chanting] >> martha: i can't hear that without -- it takes you right back. >> it does. martha: what was the strongest impression that you got, as he got into that day, you know, and he really brought himself back there, what did you take away? >> you know, what we found actually throughout the whole interview was that the former president was very much open to revealing things about himself, personal feelings that he went through during those horrific days. you know, things that you

don't often hear presidents speak about, when he came to new york, he talked about, you know, flying over the site of marine one and looking down, but when he got down to the site and actually walking through, and just saying it looked like hell, something he had never experienced before, i think that over the past ten years, the president has had time to really look back, as we say, in the rear view mirror of his life and in this moment, this film, this interview, gave us an opportunity to reflect and look back and like all of us, it changed our lives. martha: what struck me also was his humanility about how he handled it. there's one point in it where he basically says i just did the best i could. you know? i was given this situation, and i'm a man, i'm the president of the united states, and i i -- i did the very best i could and i got the cents that -- the sense that he's very much at peace with that, you know, that he handled it to the best of his ability in those

excruciating circumstances. >> again, his statement, as he said to us, and he said it several times, that he felt like he was journeying through the fog of war, you know, both on a personal point of view and presidential point of view. remember he went from a president to a commander in chief in a matter of moments and had to make decisions that we're still dealing with today. martha: just one last piece of sound, and we'll get your thoughts on that before we tell everybody when they can see it. >> eventually, september 11th will be a date on the calendar, it will be like pearl harbor day, but for those of us who lived through it, it will be a day we'll never forget. martha: so true. >> so true. it's affected us all, you know? those of us, those new yorkers who lived through it, we still look down and see the empty space, and i think the president spoke from the heart, perhaps, as he never has before.

and that was unique and interesting experience for all of us. martha: yeah, i can't imagine what it was like for you, being in there and hearing this whole story from him firsthand, and we look forward to seeing it. i encourage everybody to watch it. i watched it with my two children, who were too young really at the time to know about this, and i really recommend that, too, because i think it's a good way for them to learn the things that they may not truly understand about that day. peter, thank you very much. >> my pleasure. martha: for being with us here today and for providing this piece of history that everybody can witness this weekend. george w. bush, the 9/11 interview, premieres sunday, august 28th, 10:00 p.m. eastern and pacific on the national geographic channel. make sure that you watch this. and on september 11th, tune in to fox, we will have complete coverage of ten years since that historic day. i was down at ground zero yesterday and i assure you, it is going to be remarkable for you to take a journey down there with us as well on that day. gregg: martha, thank you very much. we do have new concerns about hurricane irene.

it actually could shut down oil refineries all along the east coast. what that may mean for already high gas prices. plus -- the tempers are flaring in the mad dash to get out of hurricane irene's path. what sparked that nasty fight? coming up.

>> this serious hurricane has already caused significant damage in puerto rico and elsewhere. we're taking this storm very seriously. and i know that our state and local partners are as well. in fact, we've already seen a number of states declare emergency even ahead of the storm. gregg: secretary napolitano saying expect massive power outages. hurricane irene threatening to disrupt fuel supplies as well. analysts say refineries all

along the east coast are likely to close ahead of the storm's arrival. and the shut downs are already boosting gasoline prices. eric bolling, host of "follow the money" on the fox business network and of "the five" joins us. so this is a clear disruption. what does this mean for -- give us the financial impact on oil and gasoline prices, what this means to drivers. >> right, gregg, it means a lot less to oil than it does to gasoline. gasoline prices already on the rise, once that projected path came out early in the week, gasoline prices started to go up on the wholesale level, the ones that are traded on exchanges. up about 11 cents a gallon so far. but a lot remains to be seen, where this hurricane goes, how long it stays on top of some of these refineries. remember these refineries, they have to shut down, tie down equipment and when they do that, a refinery is basically a distillery, they take crude oil, boil it and separate it into its parts. when they shut down they

bring the temperatures of those crackers down, it takes days if not weeks to bring those temperatures up and get it to cul capacity again. so it depends on path and how fast it moves by, where it goes, there are some major, major refineries on the eastern seaboard that provide products for going hundreds of miles west inland. so it's a very, very touchy subject. by the way, fuel supplies are already low, because this is a time that they change over from that summer blend fuel to a winter blend which means they have to bring down the summer blend to low stock. so stocks are very low. one last point, the epa, we'reo we're on this show -- we're pointing -- pointing a finger at the epa saying reduce the regulation on gasoline, here's a perfect example of how we're going to get caught with our hands in our pockets because when we do this changeover but put our own fuel supplies at risk now. we're not going to have a lot of fuel supply, so if this hurricane does provide damage to the refinery,

we're going to be hard pressed to winter-grade fuel ready for consumption going forward. it's terrible. there should be one grade of fuel and they should work out the details. gregg: the main buildings of these refineries there, meant to withstand hurricane-force winds but the cooling towers, the pipes, the power lines, they can be damaged, then you're talking about a long term disruption and higher prices. >> these are old facilities, gregg, 30, 40 years old, so they say they're hurricane-proof. i'm -- it remains to be seen. gregg: not to mention the shipping delays. >> right. gregg: eric bolling, thank you very much. martha: we're going to find out what hurricane-proof means in a lot of ways in the coming days. here's to a man who is hurricane-proof, rick folbaum. hey rick. >> reporter: nice to see you. when jenna and i see you in ten minutes or so, we'll continue to track hurricane irene, massive evacuations ordered up and down the east coast. i just spoke with my family down at the skwrerdzy shore, they are on their way out of that area. would you stay or would you go? we'll talk with one man who

has decided he's going to ride this out and he's in his 80s. we'll talk to him. all eyes on fed chief ben bernanke today, wondering if he's going to take any action to fix the economy. mr. bernanke has spoken. we'll tell you what he said and how the markets are reacting. >> with the gop field becoming more clear, two republican hopefuls are turning to a top business leader. who and why? top of the hour. back to you. martha: we'll look forward to that. we are live, of course, along the east coast where the outer bands of hurricane irene are starting to be felt, folks. they are bringing rain, and a whole lot more behind it. we'll be right back.

martha: all right, here it comes, folks, we are just starting to get the first information on this new advisory. let's go to janice dean in our weather center. janice, what are they

saying? >> reporter: we just got the new advisory, down to 105 miles per hour, so this is a category two storm, remains a category two, and if there's a little gleam of good news, the national hurricane center believes that this is not going to restrengthen to a category three. however, we're still going to deal with the same effects, just because it's a category two, i don't want people to let their guard down, all right? because we're still dealing with a formidable storm and very large storm at that, tropical storm force winds extending 290 miles away from the center of the storm. so we are thinking a landfall possibly around the morehead city area saturday morning, late morning, making landfall here and there's the outer banks, cape ha -- hatteras and making a second landfall somewhere across western long island as a category one storm, so that remains the same. the difference here, if there is any good news out of this, is we don't expect this to restrength tone a category three, a major hurricane, however, i can't stress enough, martha, people need to still pay

attention. this is still a big, big storm. we're still going to see the same rainfall totals, we're still going to see hurricane-force winds, battering waves, that kind of thing. but the weaker the storm gets, the better news that we have. we are still dealing with the same track, though, still could be a devastating storm along the i-95 corridor or east of the i-95 corridor. martha: absolutely. when you talk about above 100-mile an hour winds and the effect on trees and rooftops, all of that is not diminished by 5 miles an hour, i would imagine, and i just think you're so right, janice, we sort of need to sit tight and wait and keep doing what we're doing for now, right? >> reporter: i'm sorry, martha, i didn't hear you. martha: no problem. i just was -- >> >> reporter: i don't have your voice in my ear, unfortunately. martha: janice, thank you very much. we'll get reconnected with janice. gregg, you heard what i was saying, and janet napolitano was just saying it, to assume the difference between 115 miles and

105 miles, most of us cannot feel that difference when it's hitting your house or your beachfront. gregg: there's no material difference, it will still cause the same destruction and loss of life. got to be careful. the storm is on a very rare path, it's expected to slam north carolina in just hours, and then batter the entire east coast, all the way up to new england. we're also waiting for a statement from president obama. we're going to bring that to you live when it happens. stay with fox news, complete coverage, today and throughout the weekend, on hurricane irene. hi. you know, i can save you 15% today

if you open up a charge card account with us. [ male announcer ] identity thieves never stop coming up with ways to steal from you. they can open up an account in your nam and go on a serious spending spree. do you have cufflinks? mm-hmm. gold ones? [ male announcer ] not on our watch. we're lifelock. go to lifelock.com and learn how our patented billion point database can help protecyou. call 1-800-lifelock today. lifelock. relentlessly protecting your identity. backed by the superguarantee®? find a busess call 1-800-lifelock today. only& suonline.s®. on your phone. or in the book. go to superpages®. and let the good guys save the day.

[ vet ] your turn max. [ cat ] inside and out. and i'm not the only one who thinks so...right doc? [ female announcer ] vets agree, a healthy check up starts inside. our breakthrough iams premium protection formula is developed with vets... ...with cutting edge ingredients for the lifelong health of your pet. [ cat ] what a surprise... straight as again! [ female announcer ] iams premium protection. our most advanced iams nutrition. ever. [ cat ] oh, i'm not in your way, am i doc? i...[yawns] am an iams cat. and what it doesn't cover can cost you some money. that's why you should consider an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. all medicare supplement insurance plans can help pay... some of what medicare doesn't, so you could save... thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses. call now for this free information kit and medicare guide. if you're turning 65 or you're already on medicare... you should know about this card --

it's the only one of its kind endorsed by aarp; see if it's right for you. all medicare supplement plans let you keep your own doctor, or hospital that accepts medicare. there are no networks and no referrals needed. help protect yourself from some of what medicare doesn't pay... and save up to thousands of dollars in potential... out-of-pocket expenses with an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. call this toll-free number on your screen now... for this free information kit, including this... medicare guide and customized rate quote. gregg: breaking news an amtrak train with about 175 people on board has derailed in nebraska near the town of max. apparently it struck some kind of a vehicle that was on the traction. it was the california zepher. a spokesperson says there are no reports of